When will Alabama and Auburn football players stop getting arrested?

Can we all agree on something? Can we all see the common ground that Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn and a lot of other college football coaches occupy?

Can we say that, generally speaking, they're all soft on crime?

That's what their opponents would say if they were political candidates running for office. Either that, or they'd be labeled a bunch of liberals.

Look at the evidence.

The coaches like to say that they don't want simply to punish players who break the law or team rules. They want to help change their behavior for the better.

They don't want to kick players to the curb or put them out in the street after they get arrested, sometimes more than once, as a knee-jerk response. They want to keep those wayward young men in a structured environment that would seem to be the best place for them to learn to become more productive citizens.

It all sounds very noble and progressive.

But is it working?

The evidence suggests just the opposite.

On Tuesday, Alabama cornerback Cyrus Joneswas arrested on two charges of third-degree domestic violence after allegedly damaging a young woman's cell phone and threatening her. Jones became the fourth Alabama player to get arrested since late March. Two of them, Jonathan Taylor and Tyren Jones, have been dismissed from the team.

How did Saban respond to the latest arrest?

"We don't ever condone any behavior that shows any kind of disrespect," the Alabama coach said in a statement. "There was no physical contact in this situation. Once we get the facts, we will take the necessary steps to correct this behavior in the future."

Given the number of Alabama players arrested lately, it would seem that Saban's message of how you're supposed to conduct yourself and how you're supposed to represent the program isn't getting through to everyone.

On Wednesday, Auburn defensive end Elijah Daniel, former walk-on linebacker DeNorris James and former walk-on track athlete Khalil Sellerswere arrested on four theft of property charges and four burglary charges, which include six felonies, stemming from a string of burglaries in the South Donahue Residence Hall on the Auburn campus.

How did Malzahn respond? He suspended Daniel indefinitely. James had already been removed from the post-spring practice roster.

When does it stop? When do Alabama and Auburn football players stop breaking the law, stop getting arrested, stop making themselves, their coaches and their programs look bad?

It's impossible for a football coach to police the behavior of 100 or more players, including walk-ons, every minute of every day. We as parents sometimes find it difficult to keep a child or two on the straight and narrow.

It's also impossible to predict the future behavior of every player a coach signs and every walk-on he admits to the program.

But what message does it send when a coach accepts a player into his program who's been kicked out of another school? How many "second chances" are too many?

What message does it send when a player gets arrested and his punishment involves the loss of a minimal amount of playing time or sometimes none at all? Isn't taking away something important to a young man one of the best ways to get his attention?

As usual when it comes to crime and punishment in society at large, there are more questions than answers in trying to solve this problem, but one thing seems clear. As much as Alabama and Auburn do to try to develop their student-athletes as people, something's not working, and it's not good enough to say, well, this is a societal problem.

Saban and Malzahn aren't responsible for society. They're responsible for their football programs. Maybe it's time for them to raise their standards on accepting players into their programs - and keeping them there.

Tough love is a nice concept, but for a lot of college football coaches, it may have shifted too much toward love and too far away from toughness.